Gus Malzahn hopes to have QB depth chart by end of spring football

Auburn football head coach Gus Malzahn said that all the quarterbacks entering the month-long spring practices will get a fair shake at the chance to top the depth chart. No one leads that category as of now.

“We’ve got a plan,” Malzahn said following Pro Day. “We’ve talked it through. We’re going to give everybody a fair chance. We’re going to compete and we’re going to see who the best guy is.”

Auburn’s main competitors for the job are freshman Bo Nix, who enrolled early and was 247Sports’ highest-rated dual-threat recruit in 2019. There’s also Joey Gatewood, a redshirt freshman who also was a five-star prospect and appeared in one game last season. There’s also Malik Willis, who was the backup the last two seasons to Jarrett Stidham. Lastly, there’s Cord Sandberg, a 24-year-old former baseball player, who appears the least likely to land the job.

“Hopefully, by the end of the spring there will be some kind of order,” Malzahn said. “Now, you have to see how that goes. We’ve got four guys competing for the spot and it’s wide open right now.”

Malzahn added it was a possibility for the quarterbacks to get live action reps, though it wouldn’t come for a couple of weeks.

Auburn is changing up its spring practice schedule, starting it several weeks later and making it more condensed. It will run from March 18 through AU’s A-Day on April 13. Part of the purpose was to allow Auburn’s strength and conditioning staff a few more weeks with the players.

Malzahn has had to deal with naming a new quarterback in the vast majority of his now 10 seasons at Auburn.

“We’ve been there and done that before,” Malzahn said, “and I think that experience will help us in narrowing things down.”

Departing Auburn QB Jarrett Stidham was in the building for his Pro Day, and wasn’t ready to say who he thought had the best chance at landing the job.

“I’m anxious to see," Stidham said. “I’ll be here for spring ball and stuff and I’ll be at A-Day and all that or should be. I’m excited to see how it all plays out. I’m excited to see how coach Malzahn handles all four guys. I’m anxious to see who rises to the top and who really wants to be the guy.”

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